Psilocybin, the main psychoactive substance in hallucinogenic mushrooms, improves the long-term condition of many patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression.
- This is the largest clinical trial ever conducted.
- After three weeks, more than one in three patients saw their depression severity score improve after psilocybin administration.
- One in four patients was still satisfied 12 weeks after psilocybin administration.
Treatments against depression would be effective in 70% of cases. For the rest of the patients, several options are being studied by the researchers. Among them, psilocybin, the main psychoactive substance in hallucinogenic mushrooms, has shown some effectiveness. A new clinical trial, the largest ever, confirms the long-term benefits of this treatment option in patients suffering from severe depression, that is, depression resistant to treatment. The results were presented by Compass Pathwaysa British company which holds patents for two synthetic formulations of the substance and which conducted the trial.
An important study
While psilocybin is particularly effective in some patients, others experience no beneficial effect. In detail, more than 60% of patients in the study did not have significant benefits. While these results are less impressive than a study published last April in which 70% of patients who received psilocybin treatment showed a positive response after six weeks, the larger cohort and longer-term follow-up of the new research partly explain this discrepancy.
“There is a general trend in science that the first small studies show huge effects, and as you study more they become smaller and smaller. The hope we all have is that it doesn’t go awaysays Allan Young of King’s College London, involved in the study. We need to do a lot more studies on how long the effect lasts and see how it plays out in the clinic, but the fact that one group shows sustained benefit up to 12 weeks, in my opinion, is really encouraging..”
Nearly one in four patients satisfied after 12 weeks
The present research involved 233 people with treatment-resistant depression. To be eligible, candidates had to have tried at least two other treatments without these improving their condition. In the randomized, double-blind study, participants were randomly given 1, 10, or 25 milligrams of a synthetic form of psilocybin. Finally, all received psychological support before, during and after a single dosing session.
The results showed that in the group of patients who received the 25 milligram dose, more than one in three (36.7%) saw their depression severity score improve three weeks after administration of psilocybin, and 24.1% were still satisfied after 12 weeks.
A treatment soon authorized?
The researchers are delighted with these results, and in particular with the fact that unlike traditional antidepressants which require daily intake of pills for several weeks, psilocybin only requires a single dose. Compass plans to enter the final phase of its clinical trials next year. The US health authority, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has previously called this approach “revolutionary” and could approve this treatment quickly if its benefits are confirmed.
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